Aibou (Visual Novel)
Aibou is a visual novel fan fiction in development by umbralshadows on the RPG Maker MV game development engine. It chronicles the history of Masked Duo Umbra and Lumis, from their first meeting up to the beginnings of their involvement with Marik Ishtar. Development The game began its development as an entry to a Game Jam, which it emerged from as one of the winners. It is currently still in its "Alpha" Game Jam state, which totes 1-1 1/2 hours of play time. The final game will net around 4-5 hours of play time and will consist of completely custom graphics, some custom music, and innovative gameplay elements. One of the game's themes will be Mizuzoko ni Shizumu Hikari. Gameplay The majority of the current release of Aibou reads like your standard fan fiction with some Choose-Your-Own-Adventure situations that affect the plot as well as raise or lower Friendship Points with Umbra's partner, Lumis. Friendship Points can directly impact the gameplay difficulty as the game progresses. The hands-on gameplay segments consist foremostly of Quick Time Events, prompted by either QTE-dialogues or "Battles". QTE dialogues are scenes in which the QTE integrates directly into the plot. An Arrow Procession will appear on the screen and the player must key in the arrows before the time runs out. There are two modes to QTE: Normal and Difficult, determined by how many Friendship Points the player has accrued. The Difficult route displays more complex Arrow processions and offers the player a shorter amount of time. Losing a QTE has no penalty, for the time being, and the player will simply be asked to try again if they do not succeed. Battles are QTE-based as well, but work differently to that of QTE dialogues. There are THREE QTE mini-game types that make up the battles and they are as follows: * Mash: The player must hit the key as many times as they can to keep the meter filled high until the time runs out. If the bar is only slightly filled, the plater loses Trust. * Precision Aim: The player must wait until the aim circle gets as small as it can and then press the key. If the player presses the key while the circle is still too big, or lets the circle disappear completely, they lose Trust. * Sequence Circle: The player must hit the correct key as it spins into the viewer. If the player hits too many wrong keys, or hits them too far out of the viewer in the sequence, they lose Trust. Essentially, the player must keep Umbra and Lumis' morale above 0. If the Trust meter hits 0, the battle must be fought again. Future Releases The subsequent releases of Aibou will feature significant improvements and additions to the gameplay, including stats building and simulation elements. Battles will be visually enhanced with animations and the attacks will ebb and flow to the beat of the music. The Choice-Flow branches will be polished and added to as well. Although, the game's main focus will still be the narrative.